Within minutes, I have the cage cracked open, her leash undone, and I pull her limp, naked body out the cage. Hauling her by the belt, I growl, “You’re coming with me.”
CHAPTER 17
VANESSA
He drags me across the attic by the belt, stopping halfway to grab something from his bag.
“Now you’ve gone and done it, Princess,” he growls.
“Stop!” I gurgle, pulling on the belt around my neck. It fastens around my skin, choking me to the point of being unable to speak. He hauls me so roughly that I’m afraid I might lose consciousness if I don’t get this off soon, so I claw at the leather until my nails start to bleed.
“Fighting will only make it hurt more,” he says, opening the door.
Right before we reach the stairs, he picks me up from the floor and throws me over his shoulder. I use the opportunity to slam my fists into his back.
“Put me down!” I yell, punching him as hard as I can.
“Not a chance in hell, sweet cheeks,” he says, taking me down one flight of stairs.
That’s when I hear the screeches coming from a closet in the hallway.
“Paige?” I scream.
She squeals, but something is preventing her from speaking. Something muffles her voice. He must’ve stuffed something in her mouth.
“Shut up,” Phoenix growls.
“Paige! You stuffed her in a fucking closet?” I yell.
“Well, where else would I put her?” he says with a laugh that sounds as if it’s strange that I would be asking the question in the first place.
When we reach the bathroom, he puts me down inside the bathtub and turns on the shower.
Ice cold.
I scream from the icy pain cascading down on my sore muscles and burning skin. My ass hurts the most, the red marks he left lighting up like a painting made of blood.
“No!” I attempt to fight him off, trying to jump out of the tub, but he holds me down.
He grabs my wrists and pins them to my back, causing intense pain and almost dislocating my shoulder. Then he dangles a set of cuffs in front of me. “See this? It’s a neat little thing I picked up in prison. I’ve worn them plenty of times. Now it’s your turn, Princess.”
He puts one on me before I get a chance to jerk my hands free. The other is chained to a bar between the faucet and the wall. Now I’m trapped with no way out, doused in cold water until my skin erupts in goosebumps, and my body starts to tremble ferociously.
“Turn it off!” I say. “It’s fucking cold!”
“You wanted to shower. Now you have it,” he muses, poking at my skin.
The heat regulator is just out of my reach, even though I try to reach as far as I can. I get up and move into the corner as far away from the jet. This makes him lash out and tug on my hardened nipples, causing me to squeal.
“Either stay in the cold or I’ll keep tugging and pulling, sweet cheeks. I might even pull out my knife if you don’t do what I say.”
“No,” I say as I suppress the tears.
“Then move under,” he growls, suddenly looking less amused.
I do what he wants, slowly stepping under the cold shower, desperate to feel a little warmth. I’ve been naked for quite some time now, and to feel icy-cold water now is even more painful on my already cold skin. I can’t keep myself warm, and I can feel the cold seeping into my bones.
“Like your shower?” he asks, smiling like a motherfucker.
I want to punch him in the face, but I can’t reach that far with just one free hand.
“I take it back,” I say, my lips trembling. “You’re not kind.”
There’s a self-righteous smirk on his face. “Good.”
“You know what else is true?” I say.
“What?”
“That I thought you could, for once in your life, do the right thing.”
He squints, his lip twitching, and then out of nowhere, he turns the water from icy cold to scalding hot. I scream as the water burns on my skin, my senses completely jumbled from the temperature change. I’ve no idea what’s hot and what’s cold, as the two both hurt immensely.
“Please, stop!” I say.
“Do you think I’m kind now?” he growls.
“No!”
“I’m. Not. Kind.” He leans in so close that he’s almost under the water himself. “And don’t for a second think that you can make me believe that I am.”
I whimper, my hands holding my chest in an effort to protect myself.
He turns the water back around, and the ice returns to my bones. I’m shivering, and my skin burns from the alternating extreme temperatures he’s forcing me to endure.
“Now, be a good girl and stay put,” he says, turning around.
“Wait? You’re not going to leave me here, are you?”
Glancing over his shoulder, he says, “What if I am? What are you going to do about it? Scream?” The devious smile on his face tells me that he’ll only enjoy it more if I make a sound.
Suddenly, a phone goes off. He’s momentarily taken off guard, and I seize the opportunity to move away from the shower stream as far as possible. It’s not enough to avoid the cold completely, but at least it’s better than nothing. Phoenix isn’t looking as he picks up his phone.
“Who’s this?” he asks.
I find it incredibly odd that he wouldn’t know who’s calling him. After all, this must be a new phone, so he remains under the radar. How would they know his number if he doesn’t know them?
“Hold on.” He puts his finger on the mic and glances back at me. “Don’t you make a sound because you know what’ll happen if you do. I’ll be back … soon.”
And then he leaves the room with that same wretched smile on his face.
***
PHOENIX
I close the door behind me and focus my attention on the call.
“Back,” I say.
“What’s going on?” the man on the other end of the line says. It’s Antonio, one of the organization’s contacts for the jobs. I guess he has a job for me, which comes at a really inconvenient time.
“Oh, nothing, just some personal business,” I say.
I can hear Vanessa screaming in the background, as well as Paige, so I guess Antonio can hear them, too.
“Sounds like murder business,” he muses, chuckling a little.
“You could say that again.” I clear my throat. I have to cut this conversation off because I’m not going to discuss my personal vendettas with him. “What’s up?”
“Yeah, I got this job for you that I really need you to fulfill,” he says. “I already sent you the details.”
“Well, I’m sure you could tell that I’m very busy right now.”
“Yeah, but see, that’s the problem. You should not be busy right now.”
“That’s not your call, dude,” I say, tapping my foot on the floor.
“Except it is. Or did you forget who got you out of jail?”
My lip starts to twitch and I have the urge to punch holes into the wall in front of me. “As I recall, I was the one who dug out the hole, not any of you shitheads.”
“Keep talking like that, Nix, and you might end up as the next hit.”
“Be my fucking guest,” I say. “I know you won’t fucking do it because you don’t have the fucking balls. You know as well as I do that you need me.” I’m breathing like a fucking bull now; that’s how angry I am. “And in case you forgot, I was the one who looked after DeLuca. Not you. Me.”
“The boss paid the guards to get you the freedom you needed to dig that hole in the first place. You owe us.”
“You weren’t the one standing in the shitty rain digging up some shitty earth, you hear me?” I yell into the phone.
“Calm your fucking tits, dude. I’m only relaying a message.”
“Well, tell your boss that I don’t owe you anything,” I spit.
“All right. We’ll get someone else to do the job. But I’m warning you, Nix. You’re not going to like it when the boss finds out you’re being stubborn.”
“I don’t give two shits. He wouldn’t fucking hurt me. DeLuca won’t let him,” I say.
“I don’t know, Nix. The boss never listens to anyone but himself.”